Nagpur:
It's breaking Bollywood box office records all over the world, but in Mumbai, Aamir Khan's blockbuster has taken a bit of a hit.
On Monday, the Maharashtra government announced that it will investigate allegations that the film inspired 18 medical college students to rag their juniors.
Impossible, says Aamir. "3 Idiots is anti-ragging and has a social message," the star said to NDTV on Tuesday. The film's director, Rajkumar Hirani added, "The government has not approached us regarding the film and the story."
On Monday, Maharashtra's Education Minister, Vijay Kumar Gavit, said that he will watch 3 Idiots to see if there are any parallels between what happened in the film, and the ragging that unfolded on New Year's Eve at the medical college of King Edward Memorial Hospital.
3 Idiots has also been at the centre of another public and ugly battle between the film-makers and novelist Chetan Bhagat. The movie is based on Bhagat's book, Five Point Someone. Bhagat claims that while the rights to his book were bought by the producers, he has not been given enough credit in the film.
Irritated by repeated questions about this, the movie's producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra yelled "shut up" at a press conference last week. He apologized later for his outburst.